I Thessalonians 4-5

I Thessalonians 4

¹As to the rest, then, brethren, we request you, and call upon you in the Lord Jesus, as ye did receive from us how it behoveth you to walk and to please God, that ye may abound the more,

²for ye have known what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus,

³for this is the will of God -- your sanctification; that ye abstain from the whoredom,

⁴that each of you know his own vessel to possess in sanctification and honour,

⁵not in the affection of desire, as also the nations that were not knowing God,

⁶that no one go beyond and defraud in the matter his brother, because an avenger is the Lord of all these, as also we spake before to you and testified,

⁷for God did not call us on uncleanness, but in sanctification;

⁸he, therefore, who is despising -- doth not despise man, but God, who also did give His Holy Spirit to us.

⁹And concerning the brotherly love, ye have no need of my writing to you, for ye yourselves are God-taught to love one another,

¹⁰for ye do it also to all the brethren who are in all Macedonia; and we call upon you, brethren, to abound still more,

¹¹and to study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we did command you,

¹²that ye may walk becomingly unto those without, and may have lack of nothing.

¹³And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not sorrow, as also the rest who have not hope,

¹⁴for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God those asleep through Jesus he will bring with him,

¹⁵for this to you we say in the word of the Lord, that we who are living -- who do remain over to the presence of the Lord -- may not precede those asleep,

¹⁶because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first,

¹⁷then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be;

¹⁸so, then, comfort ye one another in these words.

I Thessalonians 5

¹And concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need of my writing to you,

²for yourselves have known thoroughly that the day of the Lord as a thief in the night doth so come,

³for when they may say, Peace and surety, then sudden destruction doth stand by them, as the travail doth her who is with child, and they shall not escape;

⁴and ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day may catch you as a thief;

⁵all ye are sons of light, and sons of day; we are not of night, nor of darkness,

⁶so, then, we may not sleep as also the others, but watch and be sober,

⁷for those sleeping, by night do sleep, and those making themselves drunk, by night are drunken,

⁸and we, being of the day -- let us be sober, putting on a breastplate of faith and love, and an helmet -- a hope of salvation,

⁹because God did not appoint us to anger, but to the acquiring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁰who did die for us, that whether we wake -- whether we sleep -- together with him we may live;

¹¹wherefore, comfort ye one another, and build ye up, one the one, as also ye do.

¹²And we ask you, brethren, to know those labouring among you, and leading you in the Lord, and admonishing you,

¹³and to esteem them very abundantly in love, because of their work; be at peace among yourselves;

¹⁴and we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the infirm, be patient unto all;

¹⁵see no one evil for evil may render to any one, but always that which is good pursue ye, both to one another and to all;

¹⁶always rejoice ye;

¹⁷continually pray ye;

¹⁸in every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus in regard to you.

¹⁹The Spirit quench not;

²⁰prophesyings despise not;

²¹all things prove; that which is good hold fast;

²²from all appearance of evil abstain ye;

²³and the God of the peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved unblameably in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ;

²⁴stedfast is He who is calling you, who also will do it.

²⁵Brethren, pray for us;

²⁶salute all the brethren in an holy kiss;

²⁷I charge you by the Lord, that the letter be read to all the holy brethren;

²⁸the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with you! Amen.